Best Pubs in Birmingham: Real Ale and Good Pub Food

What makes a good Birmingham pub

Birmingham rewards a pub that does one thing properly. The Wellington is unapologetically about ale, with eight regular beers and a changing guest list plus a serious whisky shelf, and no pumping music or fancy food to distract you. That single-mindedness is why it turns up on so many shortlists, including CN Traveller's, which calls it the most gloriously unpretentious pub in the city.

The other half of the equation is the room and the cooking. Victorian buildings, listed facades and gardens that fill on the first warm weekend of the year do a lot of the work, and a kitchen that turns out a reliable roast or a proper plate of fish and chips keeps people coming back. Judge a Brummie pub on those two things and you will rarely be disappointed.

City centre: The Wellington on Bennetts Hill for real ale

The Wellington, known to everyone as the Welly, sits at 37 Bennetts Hill, a couple of minutes from New Street station. It opened in 2004 to give Birmingham drinkers the craft and real ale the city was short of, and expanded the building in 2014. A rotating board of guest ales sits alongside the regular beers, lagers, ciders and a deep whisky collection, and the staff will steer you through anything unfamiliar.

Expect a plain, honest boozer rather than a styled room, which is exactly the trade-off its regulars want. One local write-up reports an average pint in the region of £3.50, though that figure moves with the market, so treat it as a guide and check the board. It is the best first stop on a city-centre crawl and an easy place to drink alone without feeling out of place.

City centre: The Trocadero on Temple Street, handy for New Street

The Trocadero on Temple Street is the practical city-centre pub: close enough to New Street station to slot in before a train or after one. It has traded under that name since 1912, and the site's earlier history under a Mr Henry Skinner is the kind of story the pub trade likes to keep alive. The draw for a visitor is a relaxed pint and a plate of food in a central, unfussy setting.

Its location makes it a sensible meeting point for a group arriving by train, but it is not the pub to build an evening around if you want cutting-edge beer. Use it as the pivot between the station and the Bennetts Hill ale pubs, and you will get the best out of it.

City centre: The Old Joint Stock on Temple Row for a grand room and a meal

The Old Joint Stock Pub & Theatre on Temple Row is the one for a big occasion pint. Its name is literal: there is a theatre upstairs, so you can eat and then catch a show without moving buildings. The room is the point here, and it suits a group meal or a pre-theatre supper better than a quick solo pint.

Book if you are eating at a popular time, and check what is on upstairs before you fix a date, because the performance schedule shapes how busy the bar gets. It sits comfortably within a city-centre crawl alongside the Welly and the Trocadero.

Digbeth and Deritend: The Old Crown, the ancient pub with a beer garden

The Old Crown on High Street in Deritend is the pub to take someone who claims Birmingham has no history. It occupies a Grade II listed building claimed to date back to 1368, which would make it the oldest secular building in the city, and it is often named the oldest pub in Birmingham. Inside it is simple and cosy, with a modest beer garden out the back.

Treat the medieval date as the claim it is rather than gospel, and you will enjoy it more. Deritend is a short walk from the city centre and pairs naturally with the Digbeth taprooms nearby. If old buildings are your thing, this is the one pub in the city you should not skip.

Digbeth: craft beer at Pint Shop and Dig Brew Co

Pint Shop on Bennetts Hill opened in October 2018 in a wood-panelled Victorian building, with a big, fast-changing beer board and a kitchen that turns out an onion bhaji Scotch egg worth ordering on its own. Dig Brew Co is a different beast: a working brewery and taproom in an industrial unit on River Street in Digbeth, with communal benches, a constantly changing range of pales, lagers, sours and stouts, and pizzas from the kitchen at the back. Note that Pint Shop is in the city centre, not Digbeth — pair it with the Welly rather than the Digbeth taprooms.

Both are beer-first places where the range changes often, so go with an open mind rather than a fixed order. For more of the city's brewing, see our guide to breweries in Birmingham and plan a Digbeth afternoon around it.

Harborne: The Plough for pub classics and a big garden

The Plough at 21 High Street in Harborne is the food-led local of the group, known for pub classics with a twist and a lively garden that gets outdoor bars and music in summer. The taps are well chosen and the room is comfortable rather than formal. It is the sort of place where a long lunch slides into the evening without anyone objecting.

Harborne is a bus or taxi ride south-west of the centre, so give it a half-day rather than squeezing it between trains. On a sunny weekend the garden fills early; arrive before the lunch rush or book if you are eating.

Harborne: The Junction for a Sunday roast and modest prices

The Junction at 212 High Street is a no-frills Victorian boozer a few doors from The Plough, and it does a slap-up Sunday roast alongside a menu that runs seven days a week at modest prices for the quality. It is the Harborne pub to pick when you want a proper plate of food and a pint without dressing up for it.

Sunday lunch is the busy service, so book ahead or go early. For the wider picture across the city, our Sunday roast in Birmingham guide maps out the rest of the contenders.

Moseley: The Fighting Cocks for a roast and a championed beer garden

The Fighting Cocks at 1 St Mary's Row in Moseley occupies a nineteenth-century building with one of the best beer gardens in the suburbs, and it is a strong choice for a roast and a pint on a warm day. The beer and cider range is broad enough to keep a mixed group happy. Moseley sits a few miles south of the centre, so it is a bus or taxi trip rather than a walk.

Its popularity is the trade-off: the garden is the first thing to fill when the sun comes out. Book for Sunday lunch and claim a table inside if the weather looks uncertain.

Jewellery Quarter: The Clifden, the everyman pub with something for everyone

The Clifden at 34 Great Hampton Street in the Jewellery Quarter pitches itself at everyone, and mostly delivers: a beer-battered cod and chips sits happily beside avocado on sourdough, and a Guinness beside a white stout. The building is warm in winter and the garden is leafy in summer, which makes it a safe pick for a group with mixed tastes.

It is a short walk from Snow Hill and the Jewellery Quarter's own stations, so it works well as a first or last stop on a city-centre circuit. If you want somewhere that will not split a group, this is the one.

Edgbaston: The High Field for a smarter food-led pint

The High Field at 22 High Field Road in Edgbaston is the polished, food-led option: a stylish pub with a garden and a terrace, built for a relaxed meal rather than a quick swifty. It suits a birthday lunch or a family get-together where the cooking matters as much as the beer. Edgbaston is a short trip south-west of the centre.

Book ahead for weekend lunches and check the menu on the pub's own site before you go, since food-led pubs change their offer with the seasons. It pairs naturally with The Plough and The Junction if you are making a day of the suburbs; for more food-led rooms, our guide to gastropubs in Birmingham picks up where this one leaves off.

Peaky Blinder on Corporation Street for the Brummie theme, and who it suits

The Peaky Blinder at 115 Corporation Street is a family-run pub built around the television series, and it is cheerfully unsubtle about it. It suits a group who want a themed night out in the centre, and it is an easy add-on to a Corporation Street wander. If you want a quiet pint and a conversation, look elsewhere.

It is central enough to fold into a crawl, but treat it as one stop rather than the whole evening. Groups should check what is on before turning up on a match day, when the centre gets busy.

Which pub for which occasion

For real ale, start at The Wellington and add Pint Shop if you want a changing board and a bar snack. For a Sunday roast, The Junction and The Fighting Cocks are the strongest picks, with The Plough close behind. For a big room and a meal before a show, The Old Joint Stock is the obvious call, and for history, The Old Crown wins.

For a group with mixed tastes, The Clifden is the safest bet, while The High Field suits an occasion where the food leads. If a garden is the priority, The Fighting Cocks and The Plough are the ones to aim for, and our beer garden Birmingham guide covers more options.

For the named pubs and food stops with a guide of their own, see Birmingham pubs and food landmarks. For food-led rooms beyond the pub, our guide to gastropubs in Birmingham picks up where this one leaves off.

Trade-offs to expect: crowds, match days, booking for Sunday lunch

Birmingham's best pubs get busy, and the pattern is predictable. City-centre pubs fill before and after matches and around commuter hours; suburban gardens fill on the first warm weekend of spring. The Wellington's no-frills approach means no pumping music, but it also means a compact room that can feel tight when the guest ales draw a crowd.

Book Sunday lunch, especially at The Junction, The Fighting Cocks and The Plough, and go early if you are not booking. Time it right too: city-centre bars fill fast around commuter hours and match days, so a mid-afternoon or early-evening start is easier than turning up at six.

Which Birmingham pub should you book first?

If you want one pub to define the city, make it The Wellington: it is central, it is serious about beer and it does not pretend to be anything else. If you want a meal and a garden, head for Harborne or Moseley and book The Junction, The Plough or The Fighting Cocks for a Sunday.

Plan around the trains and the suburbs rather than trying to do both in one evening, and check the pub's own site or ring ahead for anything that matters. If you are weighing up other cities, see our guide to the best pubs in Leeds and our guide to the best pubs in Cambridge, which follow the same approach.